what are some good beginer cameras to buy

[jozef velez]

i have gotten tired of taking "good ennogh" pictures of beautiful things on my galaxy s7  camera  and i want to get a cheap-ish beginner camera that is an upgrade or at least an upgrade.

 

 

 

what are some good ones under $175?

[gtx1060=value]

dslr or point and shoot?

[gtx1060=value]

@cc143 @xQubeZx

[GDRRiley]

used canon t5, maybe. 

[AkiraDaarkst]

19 minutes ago, jozef velez said:

i have gotten tired of taking "good ennogh" pictures of beautiful things on my galaxy s7  camera  and i want to get a cheap-ish beginner camera 

what are some good ones under $150?

Very likely why your photos are just "good ENOUGH" is because you aren't a good photographer.  There are award winning photographers who use their phone cameras, who produce fantastic photos... because they are good photographers.

For $150, I wouldn't even consider getting a "new" camera.  Spend the money on learning to be a better photographer.

 

Don't rely on Instacrap filters or "I need to get a new camera cos my photos suck" type of mindset.

[shadowbyte]

probably an unpopular option here, but have you considered an SLR?

not a DSLR, but an SLR

Old 35mm cameras are cheap af, and you can pick up something like a Pentax KM, KX, or K1000 on eBay for under 150 easily. They're completely manual, and will force you to take time to properly focus and expose each shot. 

If you have a camera store near you that develops and scans 35mm stuff, then it's a pretty cheap way to take some super unique photos. You can develop B&W stuff at home with a few chemicals and equipment, but color is much harder.

Film is also pretty cheap, and stuff like Fujicolor 200 is a nice color film that's not that expensive. For black and white, Ilford HP5 or Kodak Tri-x 400 is nice.

Here are some shots from a Zenit-e w/ 58mm Helios f/2 lens (40 dollars on eBay, but I got mine for free from a friend) using fujicolor 200.

 

 

[xQubeZx]

Well, for 150 you won't get much. Or literally nothing that would make much improvement over your phone in IQ.

 

Take time learning how to shoot instead. Composition and lightning are very important. Learn how to edit instead of relying on filters. Quite sure the latest android version supports RAW capture in some way. That will improve your shots more to learn these things. 

 

You will need a budget at around 300 at least before I would reccomend anything over the phone. 

 

For 150 you can get Lr and Ps for a year though. Thats how I started. Got Ps and lightroom and learnt how to edit, or started at least. Used others  images or ones I took with my iPhone 4s (when that thing was new haha) 

 

This is actually one of my early images I took and edited when I started. (Lr for post, taken with the iPhone 4s, kinda noisy but not too bad tbh). I do defentivly see things I would improve if I was to shoot that now but I find it shows that a phone is quite capable. 

 

 

 

[Bakerking31]

3 hours ago, jozef velez said:

i have gotten tired of taking "good ennogh" pictures of beautiful things on my galaxy s7  camera  and i want to get a cheap-ish beginner camera 

 

 

 

what are some good ones under $150?

for $150 but the photography package from Adobe which is like $10 a month for lightroom and photoshop and learn how to use them.  Then shoot on your phone exclusively using RAW.

 

You honestly will not find anything better than your phone at that price point.  The biggest improvement will be your composition and technical improvements.  learn to use the aperture control on your phone to control the depth of field. 

[cc143]

3 hours ago, AkiraDaarkst said:

Very likely why your photos are just "good ENOUGH" is because you aren't a good photographer.  There are award winning photographers who use their phone cameras, who produce fantastic photos... because they are good photographers.

For $150, I wouldn't even consider getting a "new" camera.  Spend the money on learning to be a better photographer.

 

Don't rely on Instacrap filters or "I need to get a new camera cos my photos suck" type of mindset.

Exactly that, save your money, the camera on your S7 is better than anything you could get for $150. Learn about composition and how to use your ISO and shutter speed (you can set these manually on most smartphones now days) and once you can actually justify spending more do so. 

3 hours ago, shadowbyte said:

probably an unpopular option here, but have you considered an SLR?

not a DSLR, but an SLR

Old 35mm cameras are cheap af, and you can pick up something like a Pentax KM, KX, or K1000 on eBay for under 150 easily. They're completely manual, and will force you to take time to properly focus and expose each shot. 

If you have a camera store near you that develops and scans 35mm stuff, then it's a pretty cheap way to take some super unique photos. You can develop B&W stuff at home with a few chemicals and equipment, but color is much harder.

Film is also pretty cheap, and stuff like Fujicolor 200 is a nice color film that's not that expensive. For black and white, Ilford HP5 or Kodak Tri-x 400 is nice.

Here are some shots from a Zenit-e w/ 58mm Helios f/2 lens (40 dollars on eBay, but I got mine for free from a friend) using fujicolor 200.

 

I don't think that'd be unpopular, I believe you can learn a lot of things about photography shooting film. The limited number of shots (relatively) makes you more frugile, you think about every shot before you take it, while with a dslr you snap away, end up with 2000 pictures and are surprised only 20 are usable once you look at them on a pc. 

 

A DSLR is certainly more convenient and allows for more control since you can look at your shot and recompose etc., especially with landscapes, but shooting film you learn a lot about photography. You certainly learn to appreciate it more, waiting a week to look at your photos and having actual prints, there's something about that I'm sure everyone who has experienced it will miss today. 

8 minutes ago, Bakerking31 said:

for $150 but the photography package from Adobe which is like $10 a month for lightroom and photoshop and learn how to use them.  Then shoot on your phone exclusively using RAW.

 

You honestly will not find anything better than your phone at that price point.  The biggest improvement will be your composition and technical improvements.  learn to use the aperture control on your phone to control the depth of field. 

I was not aware the S7 shot raw, or any other smartphone for that matter, although I never really bothered with it. I also thought most smartphones had a fixed aperture. 

 

As far as buying software is concerned, I'm not sure that is a great investment, I am of the mindset that you should get things as good as they get in camera and enhance them in post rather than rely on editing. In that respect, I can understand a beginner familiarizating themselves with their camera and then the editing will be easier to grasp. Shoot in RAW though and keep your pictures, I find myself cursing at shots I could have improved today had I had the raw files still and not deleted or lost them after uploading them on facebook or wherever. That's just my approach though, I'm sure some will disagree for their own reasons. 

 

OP, get better at it using your phone, then when you can justify spending ~$500 come back and ask for a recommendation.

[Bakerking31]

3 hours ago, cc143 said:

I was not aware the S7 shot raw, or any other smartphone for that matter, although I never really bothered with it. I also thought most smartphones had a fixed aperture. 

 

most newer smart phones will shoot raw.  I have the OnePlus 3T, my wife has the Honor 8 and both of ours shoot raw with full manual control (iso, aperture, shutter speed, everything a dslr has except a fixed lens and small sensor).  I checked before posting and the S7 does as well.

 

You would be amazed at how much it can improve your photography game to just start using manual aperture control on a smart phone, my wife has got some great shots while we were out without our cameras.  Its a great way to work on composition and thinking like a photographer without having to carry the equipment around.